This book has so much potential! I really enjoyed the storyline, but it felt like it took a very long time for the story to begin and I didn’t feel like I gained much in the way of depth of character in the first quarter of the book.. The prologue felt unnecessary and I just wish things moved more quickly in general. I often found myself skimming some of the areas that were more descriptive than they needed to be. I think the story is creative, the writing itself is good, and I enjoyed the premise so much. Hoping the next book finds a bit more of a groove! Thank you for the chance to read this one

Thanks to NetGalley for allowing me to read this book free. This was SO much better than I expected! I did not have high expectations for a Robin Hood retelling. I was happily so wrong. The story follows Morgan- sister of King Arthur through an epic journey. This story had the perfect amount of tension, romance, and action. Boleyn does a fantastic job of incorporating a Fae-verse into the Camelot world. She does a beautiful job of giving the reader just enough details to keep them on their feet, reeling for more, without losing interest or being overwhelmed. The ending was 🤌🏻 just enough of a cliff hanger but not enough to make you upset as the reader. I ran to request the second book!

Arthurian mythos x bodyguard romance trope = OMG YES PLEASE

Princess Morgan Pendragon is 20, and the older half-sister of King Arthur, ruler of the Rose Court of Camelot and the kingdom of Pendrath. Her late father feared that Morgan inherited fae blood from her mother, so he named Arthur heir to the throne, and dedicated Morgan to serve as an acolyte to the goddesses beginning on her 21st birthday. Morgan chafes at the idea of being shut away in a temple to perform religious rites, and she fears her brother as she observes his increasingly cruel machinations to grow his power.

Kairos Draven is a mercenary soldier who arrives in Pendrath to join Arthur’s Royal Guards. Morgan soon learns, however, that Kairos’ true mission is to protect her on a dangerous quest. Arthur commands Morgan to locate and extract the mystical sword of Excalibur from the legendary, abandoned fae kingdom of Valtain. Morgan is sickened by the idea of Arthur obtaining a weapon of untold magical power, but she learns that she has no choice but to comply when she is threatened with the lives of her younger brother, friends, and innocent Pendrath citizens should she disobey his wishes.

This is the first book of a medieval fantasy romance series that remixes a number of different tales from the Arthurian literary tradition. Building on this foundation, the author has created her own mythological fantasy realm and original characters. To this point, I disagree with those reviewers who have criticized the author for not being faithful (or faithful enough) to canon in the narrative. This is because there isn’t any such canon in the first place. The Matter of Britain, in which King Arthur figures, is a body of literature created over the 12th-16th centuries. The tales changed throughout that time period, and many of the characters (e.g. Uther Pendragon, Lancelot, Galahad, Merlin) and stories (Excalibur, Lady of the Lake) that appear in this novel were developed in Europe centuries after Arthur first appeared in British text. Arthurian legend continues to be reimagined today, as is the case with this novel.

And I loved it. Absolutely loved it from beginning to end.

Morgan has been a victim of physical, verbal, emotional, and psychological abuse throughout her entire life. She has been conditioned to question all of her thoughts and emotions. What other reviewers have perceived as being weaknesses in her character, I saw as self-doubt, disassociation, and emotional capitulation resulting from years of persistent victimization by her family of origin. One of the main themes of the novel is the development of Morgan’s emotional intelligence and self-awareness.

I love Kairos. We are not supposed to know everything – or really anything of importance – about him as far as his backstory in this novel. For the romance tropes to work over the course of a series, we need to learn who he is as slowly as Morgan does. The fact that this author makes us want to know him, thereby feeling frustration that we don't, is a testament to her writing ability. She is able to intrigue us by seeing Kairos only as Morgan herself sees him. Morgan wants more. So do we!

This is not really a criticism as much as it is curiosity to know why this book is targeted as an adult romance and not as a YA. All of the characters except Kairos read as older teenagers to me. I did not think that the sexual content was spicy enough to warrant "spicy romance" or "only one bed" descriptors. If the sexual content in only a couple of scenes was toned down, this would fall squarely in the YA category, and I think I would have enjoyed it even more going into it with that expectation. The coming-of-age storylines (Morgan, Lancelet, Galahad, Kaye, and even Arthur) are not what a reader of adult fantasy or spicy romance is typically looking for. I think that might be the primary reason that some of the reviews have been more lukewarm than I believe this novel deserves. I am downloading book #2 as we speak!

Romance tropes: bodyguard romance, slow burn, enemies to lovers, hurt/comfort

TW/CW: Thank you to the author for your thoughtful consideration to provide this for the reader. The page number is located in the ToC.

Thank you to NetGalley and Starwater Press for the opportunity to read and review this novel. All opinions are my own.

This book has everything that I love; fae, a strong heroine, and a morally-grey love interest.

I loved the in-depth world building during the first part of the book. It honestly felt like I was watching a movie in front of me.

I loved the King Arthur retelling aspect and the political turmoil that took place.

The slow burn romance had me screaming at them to JUST KISS ALREADY. The tension between the two of them was unbearable.

It felt like I was on the edge of my seat the entire time I was reading this. It left me hanging on the most amazing cliffhanger that drove me wild.

I would like to begin by expressing my gratitude to Starwater Press, Briar Boleyn, and NetGalley for providing me with a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Queen of Roses is a promising start to an Arthurian-based fantasy tale with a modern twist, enriched by the inclusion of the ever-popular fae element that captivates readers today. The story introduces us to Morgan, the main character, who, though interesting, left me wanting a bit more spunk in her personality. While she showed enthusiasm for fighting and acquiring combat skills, I found her too submissive and meek in front of her brother's advice. At times, I wished she had stood up for herself.

Promoted as a dark fantasy fae series, the book starts as a slow burn, focusing heavily on world-building, which took some time to immerse myself into. However, it eventually lays the groundwork for what I hope will evolve into a deeper and more engaging plot in future installments. At about 70% the book really starts picking up, and I'm excited to see where this story goes further.

Overall I rate this 3.5 stars, and am hoping in further books the spice picks up.

Thank you to NetGalley and the author for the ARC.

I didnt think I would be enjoying this as much as I did. The writing style of this was really great, very whimsical and beautiful. You could really tell the author is one to keep an eye out for details.

One thing I really loved in this book was the slowburn enemies to lovers. A lot of the times when books are marketed as enemies to lovers its barely a dislike but this book really plays in hate to lovers / enemies to lovers on the scale.

Morgan is a really beautiful fmc and even though quite a few people seem to dislike her I thought she was really well written. Her insecurities werent pushed onto the reader but also werent forgotten about two pages in. Draven was kept so very mysterious until the end which I really enjoyed, too.

My only criticism on this book is going to be the rather hectic end. I wouldve liked if the book had around 50 pages more to explain some situations more in depth. It still added to the charme of the book and made me wanna continue the second part.

Loosely based on the stories of Camelot, Morgan is a half-fae princess, hiding the fae part of herself. Her evil king brother, sends her off on a mission to find the sword in the stone. Whether she comes back alive, he doesn’t seem to care.

This book had a lot of potential, but it wasn’t all there for me. The romance felt forced, some parts were confusing, and I wanted more magic. Maybe I’ll pick up the next one, I’m not sure yet.

Okay this book blew me away. I'm not I newbie as a fantasy romance reader, and so after a while the stories can start to get, well, repetitive. This book however was absolutely AMAZING. It was a breath of fresh air, and exactly what I needed. The characters, the plot, the worldbuilding... everything was lush, well-written and gripping.

Cannot wait to get into the next book.

4.5/5 stars

Thank you NetGalley for the ARC

I read both this book and the second in the series and I enjoyed the second quite a bit more than the first.

Having read both, I’m still not quite sure what is going on with the King Arthur angle. Obviously the characters share names—there is an Arthur, a Lancelot, a Galahad, a Merlin, etc—and there are some shared characteristics with the grail and Excalibur. But there are so many differences that the references just end up creating moments of cognitive dissonance. It serves to signal that an important character is about to be introduced which feels a little lazy. Ultimately I think the series would be better severing the more overt ties to King Arthur and just sticking with the general inspiration of some of the legends.

Regarding the first book, honestly most of it could have been cut and the whole thing turned into a 0.5 backstory novel for the second book. That’s not to say it’s unenjoyable; I liked Morgan as a character, and the backstory of Camelot. But ultimately if you just told me, “oh yeah one of Morgan’s brothers is super evil and the other is sweet, she is really motivated to get back to her homeland to save her youngest brother,” that’s…. probably all I really needed for motivational backstory.

The first book does drag a bit with the horrors of Arthur and the journey to Excalibur. I’m not saying you don’t learn about Morgan’s backstory and character, or that Vesper wasn’t an interesting addition to explain why she is so distrustful. There’s also the development of Morgan and Draven’s relationship that you see throughout that. But a lot of it felt unnecessary, especially when I felt like book 2 gave so much more information, moved the plot along so much more, did a lot more work in developing the relationship.

The characters
The trauma
The story
The TWISTS

Can we give Morgan a break please, she’s been though so much.

King Arthur’s retelling, it’s about his sister Morgan who is half fae, (I don’t know much about King Arthur) and he sends her on a quest to retrieve an item for him that he needs to win a war.

Morgan has been through A LOT, and still pushes through and does the best she can with what she has. Watching her be more herself as the book went on was so nice.

Draven, I feel like I don’t know much about him personally yet, just that he was set to protect Morgan while retrieving the item. He is essentially though a very grumpy man, who seems to have a way with cats. Do I love him though? Yes.

The world building is incredible, everything was described so beautifully and perfectly it was easy to imagine how everything was looking. I am so excited to read the Court of Claws and continue this story.
I am HOOKED. I need more, I never want it to end.

Definitely a favourite read of 2023.

Tropes:
Enemies to lovers
Who did this to you
Found family

First off, thank you NetGalley and Starwater Press for granting me access to this book in exchange for an honest review.

Queen of Roses is a dark fantasy romance with a loosely inspired King Arthur retelling with a Fae twist! The story has an EXTREMELY slow burn romance with a top notch enemies to lovers trope and is filled with magic, mythical creatures, tension, banter, forced proximity, sibling love, friendships, self discovery, love, betrayal, adventure, action and unexpected twists! While I enjoyed the world building, character development and plot I could have used a little more fire and spice. Hopefully, that will be the case in the next book in the series😉! OKAY, OH MY GOSH, what a cliffhanger ending!! Overall, I was completely immersed from start to finish and I am super excited to start reading the second book!! 🥀🥀🥀🥀

✨Because of the nature of this being a dark and twisted fantasy story please check the trigger warnings before reading the book.✨

français :

J'ai reçu un arc via net Gallery en échange d'une honnête critique.
3 / 5 sympas mais sans plus
si je devais décrire cette histoire en une phrase ce serait :
prévisible mais lisible
À lire si :
- vous aimez réécriture arthurienne
vous aimez l'aspect politique dans les livres fantaisie

Points forts :
-le monde
la politique

points faibles :
les personnages
la violence parfois inutile ( après mon niveau de tolérance vis à vis de la violence est extrêmement bas )

queen of Rose est une réécriture des légendes arthurienne, ce que j'adore. Malheureusement je n'ai pas réussi à m'attacher aux personnages.
J'ai trouvé morgane bien trop naïve ce qui je trouve ne va pas trop avec son passé et avec le ton de l'histoire.
Kairos est basique
vesper aurait pu remonter le niveau des personnages, il aurait mérité plus de profondeur et aurait pu être utilisé d'une autre manière,
petit spoiler





comme un vrai personnage au lieu d'un moyen de rajouter du choc
( qui au final n'a pas vraiment choqué puisqu'on s'y attendait)







fin petit spoiler

j'ai aussi parfois trouvé les dialogues trop forcés, surtout ceux de vesper.
Je pense qu'il n'y avait pas assez de passage parlant des traumas de morgane, elle vit de nombreux événements traumatisants au cours du livre et elle s'en remet tout de suite surtout dans la deuxième partie, dans la première le sujet avait commencé à être abordé.

Sinon la construction du monde est très intéressante, nous avons envie d’en savoir plus

D'un point technique je pense qu'il aurait fallu utiliser le chapitre I en prologue, le prologue actuel n'est pas mémorable contrairement au chapitre I.


english :

I received a bow via net Gallery in exchange for an honest review.
3.5 / 5 nice but nothing more
If I had to describe this story in one sentence it would be:
predictable but readable
Read it if:
- You like Arthurian rewriting
- You like the political aspect in fantasy books

Strengths:
-world
-Politics

Weaknesses:
-Characters
-Violence that is sometimes unnecessary ( but I have a really low level of tolerance toward violence )

Queen of Rose is a rewrite of Arthurian legends, which I love. Unfortunately I didn't manage to get attached to the characters.
I found morgane much too naïve which I find does not go too much with her past and with the tone of the story.
Kairos is basic
Vesper could have gone up the level of the characters, he would have deserved more depth and could have been used in another way,

little spoiler




as a real character instead of a way to add shock
( wich in the end did not really work since we expected it)








end of little spoiler


I also sometimes found the dialogues too forced, especially those of Vesper.
I think there was not enough passage talking about Morgane's traumas, she experiences many traumatic events during the book and she recovers immediately especially in the second part, in the first part the subject had begun to be addressed.

Otherwise the construction of the world is very interesting, we want to know more

From a technical point I think we should have used chapter I in prologue, the current prologue is not memorable unlike chapter I. (less)

This was such an amazing read and I'm already eager to start the next one!

I loved that this was a retelling of the story of Camelot and that we follow Morgan who is half fae! I really liked her character and loved watching her character grow throughout this book!

There were soooo many of my favourite tropes in this one and I honestly had so much fun reading this one!

I definitely recommend picking this one up!

As a retelling- I loved this book, a romance, not so much. I went into this book and immediately loved it. I haven't read a king Arthur retelling before, and this one had such an amazing plot line and so many twists and turns. I loved how the story was so original yet an amazing retelling. However, the romance, which I thought would be a large part of this, was lacking. The initial chemistry the two had was amazing and it was easy to tell they were perfect for one another. However, as the story went on, the chemistry began failing-and for specific reasons. Now, this isn't to say that the lack of romance made this a bad book. All I'm trying to say is that it was my understanding that there would be more romance-and the end outcome was disappointing. Overall, the plot of this book was just amazing, the friendships and connections that were so emotional to read.

Morgan Pendragon is the elder sister of King Arthur, prevented from taking the crown by her father when he feared she was too Fae. Despite this, she is not vengeful over her loss of her right to rule but she worries for her younger brother Kaye as he grows up under the cruel rule of Arthur who is growing increasingly violent. Her brother the King suddenly reveals she is going on a quest to find something, and while she experiences hardship romance also blooms.

This was my first retelling of Camelot that I've read, and I loved it! It's fantasy forward with romance that feels very 'will they, won't they'. All the (good) characters were very loveable from Morgan to her brother Kaye to her friend Lancelet and the bad characters were written very well. This was a bit of a classic YA/NA fantasy and I recommend it to anyone who enjoys the genre.

There are quite a few dark themes so I recommend reading the trigger warnings - however it doesn't get too graphic.
I read the ARC of this, however it has already been published, with the second book out soon. Thank you to Netgalley and Starwater Press for this copy in exchange for an honest review 💕

There was so much potential for this to be a 5 star read and I'm so upset that that's not the case! The heavy Camelot/King Arthur/Merlin influence was a lot of fun to read and definitely something I haven't really seen before - especially with a fae spin on it. That definitely gives this book a 'From Blood and Ash' feel to it, as this book is set in a dark/twisted Camelot

Unfortunately I found that the story needed more depth. The characters needed more development and there was so much happening with the plot, especially for the religious aspects, that it was hard to remember and keep up with it.

I think this story needs to avoid the cliches and take more inspiration from the rich myth it's inspired from, and if it could have been either been refined or given more depth then I really feel like this could have been a winner!

I love fantasy dont get me wrong but sometimes the world building and learning its culture is exhausting THIS BOOK made it so EASY to just imagine the world, religion, politics in such a simple perspective it was a breather of what I normally go for.

I loved the MC and the MMC I felt that it was missing a bit of slow burn but nevertheless I can’t wait to read the second book it ended with a cliffhanger that i cant wait to discover.

4 stars !!!! Thank you netgalley and author for giving me the chance for a ARC in exchange for an honest review

3.5⭐️ 1🌶

Big thanks to Starwater Press, Briar Boleyn and NetGalley for a copy of this book in exchange for my honest opinions.

This was a great first in a series for a fantasy Arthurian-based tale! I loved the modern edge that the author gave this tale as well as the fae twist that was included (because we all know how popular fae books are right now).

This one did take me a minute to get into with all the world-building that was going on. The MC Morgan was interesting but I do wish that she would have been a little more spunky in a sense. She was all for fighting and learning how to fight - but then at the same time she was so timid and mild when it came to listening to every word that her brother said. There were plenty of times where she could have stood up for herself (ex. the medicine) and she didn't, but then other things she did in secret.

This was said to be a dark fantasy fae series and while I feel this is just the beginning, don't expect much darkness or steaminess in this one. Think of this book as a big setup for the real plot (which is what I am hoping this one was).

Once I hit about the 65% mark, I was hooked. Real action started to happen and things were heating up. I definitely know I want more Draven (especially with that cliffhanger ending).

Definitely a 3.5⭐️ book rounded up to 4⭐️. I look forward to diving into the next one and I hope it picks up from there. I love where it seems to be heading and I cannot wait for the promise of more fae steamy dark fantasy/romance action.

wow. where do i even begin?? this book is fast-paced and will pull you in and keep you reading until you’re at the end and thinking, “i need the next book right now.” i don’t know much about camelot, but this book is based on camelot in some aspects, with other aspects such as fae included!

our female main character, morgan pendragon is inexperienced in many aspects of her life. born resented by her family for her mother’s heritage, morgan is forced to suppress her part-fae side for as long as she can remember. living alongside her brother, king arthur and younger brother, kaye has its ups and downs. family drama is always an interesting topic to read about and trust me, there’s LOTS of it. morgan struggles immensely with accepting herself for who she is, and throughout the story i loved getting to see her grow and develop as a person and become stronger/more confident in herself.

kairos draven is the main male featured in this novel. he’s seemingly very angry most of time, and has a past full of secrets. with his dark hair, tall stature and mysterious vibes, he’ll definitely be a new favorite male main character for me thus far. i love how he is portrayed as flying slow and being super reserved, but slowly opens up and devotes himself to protecting morgan along the way.

i really enjoyed seeing morgan and draven interact with one another, and i’m hoping for more of them in the next book. also, i loved the side characters like lancelet, kaye and galahad who make the story more enjoyable when they are included. i really loved a lot of these characters and how the world-building was included without hindering the progression of the storyline.

i definitely am very excited to read book two!! i need more of this story, especially after the ending of this book… definitely think this one is worth the read for sure <3

Thank you so much to Briar Boleyn and Netgalley Starwater Press for the wonderful opportunity to read this arc in exchange for an honest review.

This book was a spectacular portal into a new, magical world.
I was so truly excited for this read, and it did not disappoint!! As someone who is a sucker for a good fantasy romance, this Camelot fae retelling was so fun to dive into. I loved the majority of the characters *iykyk*, especially Morgan. The world building in this book (which usually bores the heck out of me) dragged me in until I couldn't put the book down. The only thing I would change about this book would be to make it longer and add more spice. The last couple chapters had me a little confused, but I have confidence in this being cleared up in book 2. Speaking of which, I am so excited for the second book in this series!!
Long story short, this book was worth the read, and I recommend it to anyone looking for a great start to a dark, magical, entrancing fantasy series.

Tropes in this book- single pov, fae retelling, morally grey everyone, strong FMC, they take care of each other when they are sick (dying), cliffhanger, first in a series

Overall- ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Spice-🌶🌶
Intensity-😲😲😲